Follow Epicurious!

7 Freezer-Friendly Recipe Ideas For New Moms

by Louise Hart

on 07/28/14 at 05:53 PM

As an expectant mother, I knew I would need to prepare a nursery and pack a hospital bag, but until I started reading baby books, I didn’t realize I should also stock my freezer. I live in New York and could survive on takeout, but know I will appreciate a home-cooked meal during the first, bleary weeks.

Some Mommy blogs recommend marathon kitchen days during which you cook 30, or even, 50 meals. I'm going to take a slightly more relaxed approach, starting with doubling recipes and freezing one batch.

- Reduce air for best results. For soups, use the smallest sized plastic container possible or use plastic bags (stack them flat to save room in the freezer and defrost by submerging in water). For cookies, freeze the cookie dough balls.

Freezer meals seemed like a great idea.... until I lost my second freezerful of food to a power outage. The last two years have been better, but I have not returned to keeping a fully stocked freezer.

antoniamurphynz 03:25:33 PM on 09/06/14

Great ideas! Personally, I didn't have any trouble with dairy and rice in my frozen baby meals (that was an unfortunate turn of phrase!) Spanakopita (with feta cheese) worked great, as did porcini mushroom risotto (Parmesan, rice). Maybe that's because when you're nursing (and starving!) the subtle texture difference in pre-frozen risotto is secondary to the pleasures of a rich, filling meal.

tootiredmama 09:50:04 AM on 09/06/14

Just curious, two of the recipes posted for freezing contain rice and dairy; both of which in the freezer comments you say are not good for freezing?